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Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Can never make enough cookies!

We've been off-schedule these past couple of weeks for the Wednesday Treat Day for Jeff's co-workers... but we are back to normal this week! Since we've been doing this for quite awhile now, it is not as easy to pick out recipes that are not too similar to ones we have brought in before. For this treat day, we opted to go with a cookie that has not one, not two, not three, but 4 marvelous mix-ins.

The original recipe for these White Chocolate Butterscotch Oatmeal Chippers calls for using all butter, but I split the amount in half and used spectrum organic shortening to give the cookies a firmer bite. The cookies have a crisp texture on the outside and are decidedly chewy on the inside - a lot of that chew comes from using a large amount of rolled oats. With a half cup of shredded coconut in the dough, I don't think I would say these have much of a coconut taste at all... this added more to the chew along with an intriguing layer of sweetness.

Let's get to the best part now - the mix-ins! Crunchy toasted pecans add a nutty factor along side of the creamy, good-quality (look for cocoa butter!) white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips and sweet toffee bits. I used the "bits 'o brickle" variety that does not have the addition of chocolate on the buttery bits. We tossed a handful of these into the dough as we thought their caramel undertones would match well with the butterscotch chips - you don't have to add them though. Using a tablespoon cookie scoop, I got about 48 cookies from the batch and they were quite satisfying at this size. Although, you certainly couldn't go wrong by making them a bit bigger if you like!

As I mentioned yesterday about traveling around the globe with the titles of our dinners this week, tonight's choice is no different with this dish of African Ground Nut Stew with Sour Cream-Chive Topping. I'm not certain what to think about this dish - we both thought that it almost had too much going on. That's not to say it didn't taste good, but it was a bit distracting and had an unusual texture. This dish is a chunky stew mainly composed of cubed sweet potatoes, quartered red potatoes and tomatoes. Also included is a very generous portion of chopped peanuts - while they did lend a pleasant nutty flavor, I think this might have been better if they had been ground and used more as a thickener. Most of the potatoes were just tender enough to be easily scooped through using a spoon, with a few of them dissolving to add some body to the stew. Using a full teaspoon of crushed red pepper did appease our need for some heat - but adding a dollop of sour cream, mixed with chives, kept the heat in check bringing a cool and onion-y finish. I do want to let it sit overnight and see if the leftovers can win me over!

4 comments:

Cookies look great. I've been trying to experiment with other foods - particularly grains -- myself. My palate is simply not accustomed to many of these combinations and tastes. Must be an acquired taste.